Six nines in pi

A sequence of six 9s occurs in the decimal representation of π, starting at the 762nd decimal place. It has become famous because of the idea that one could memorize the digits of π up to that point, recite them and end with "nine nine nine nine nine nine and so on", which seems to suggest that π is rational. The earliest known mention of this idea occurs in Douglas Hofstadter's 1985 book Metamagical Themas, where Hofstadter states

The sequence of six nines is sometimes called "Feynman point" after physicist Richard Feynman, who has also been claimed to have stated this same idea in a lecture. It is not clear when, or even if, Feynman made such a statement, however; it is not mentioned in published biographies or in his autobiographies and unknown to his biographer, James Gleick.

Related statistics

π is conjectured to be, but not known to be, a normal number. For a randomly chosen normal number, the probability of a specific sequence of six digits occurring this early in the decimal representation is usually only about 0.08%. However, if the sequence can overlap itself (such as 123123 or 999999) then the probability is less. The probability of six 9s in a row this early is about 10% less, or 0.0686%. But the probability of a repetition of any digit six times starting in the first 762 digits is ten times greater, or 0.686%.

Nines

Nines may refer to:

See also

Nines (card game)

Nines is a trick-taking game played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards. Nines is played by three people, and the object is to lower your score from 9 to zero.

Rules of Nines

Dealing

All of the cards are dealt one at a time into four hands of thirteen cards. One hand is for each player, and the remaining hand is set aside as an extra hand that the players can pick up (Four players can play, but with no option to trade hands, and only three tricks required to 'book', or keep the same score).

The extra hand

After all the cards are dealt, each player can look at his hand and decide if he wants to trade it for the extra hand. The dealer has first choice of taking the hand, and then the choice moves to the left. Players to the left of the dealer may take the hand that someone else has already traded in if they so choose.

Playing

The object of game play is to take tricks. Trump goes in the following sequence: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No Trump (the first four are alphabetical). In some circles, the game runs Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, No Trump.

Adrian Fulle

Adrian Fulle (born April 25, 1972 in Des Plaines, Illinois) is an American director and producer. He graduated from Columbia College with a degree in Film and Video and went to work for The Walt Disney Company, before founding Poya Pictures. He's a large supporter of the Los Angeles homeless shelter, The Midnight Mission. He has produced work for companies such as Ubisoft and DR 1.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links